Escalation

The government's top decision-making body for foreign affairs and defense matters has met in an extraordinary session to assess the latest developments in the Middle East and to discuss plans to evacuate Greeks from Lebanon.

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Friday the most recent meeting in Brussels had absolutely confirmed Pristina was not ready to head towards de-escalation and that going to Brussels was just a show to it.

Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas will on Tuesday morning announce the subsidies for February electricity consumption, which will be significantly lower than those of January, after the de-escalation of the wholesale electricity price led to a nominal kilowatt-hour price 60% below the current price.

The three guarantors of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, must meet urgently to re-install the de-escalation zones in Syria, the UN has said.

Delegations from Turkey, Russia and Iran met in Ankara on May 18 for discussions to declare "de-escalation zones" in rebel-held areas of Syria, another round of talks will be held in Iran on May 21, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has stated.

Russia, Turkey and Iran will form a joint working group on "de-escalation zones" in Syria in two weeks, in order to delineate the lines of the de-escalation areas and security zones, as well as to resolve other operational and technical issues related to the implementation of the deal, according to a memorandum signed by the countries.